Car Photos & Videos

Popemobiles: a brief history

Pope Francis just added a 1984 Renault to the papal garage—which got us thinking about some of the other uh, unusual, conveyances used to ferry His Holiness. Check out our quick history of the popemobile.

This 1930 Nürburg 460, built special by Daimler-Benz specifically for Pope Pius XI, was the first-ever real “popemobile.” It kicked off the tradition of building into the back seat a centrally mounted throne for His Holiness. The Pope famously called it “a masterpiece of modern engineering,” according to Mercedes.

1960 Mercedes-Benz 300D Landaulet

The Vatican was stuck with the pre-war 460 until 1960 when Daimler gifted him this stretch 300D “Landaulet” (a landaulet has a fixed roof over the driver with a convertible section over the rear compartment). It was the first open-top car used by the Pontiff – finally he could wave to the people! – and came with A/C and a Pope-to-driver radio.

1964 Lincoln Continental Lehmann-Peterson

For the Pope’s 1965 visit to New York City, Ford converted one of their presidential Continental limos into a landaulet-roof car, with a clear folding top, windguard and loudspeaker system. As an added bonus, the rear throne could be hand-cranked to raise His Holiness a foot into the air. The same car was later used by several other celebrities, including the Apollo astronauts during their welcome-home parade.

1965 Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman

Mercedes-Benz gifted the Vatican several limo-style cars in the mid- to late ’60s, but this ’65 600 Pullman was the most widely used. The car had an expansive folding top and taller-than-stock side glass for better headroom and visibility.

1979 FCS Star

Pope John Paul II commissioned Polish automaker Star to build this massive truck-based Pontiff-mover for his inaugural papal visit to his homeland. The FCS is typically tasked with firefighting duty, but JPII apparently had a hand in the redesign of this particular popemobile. The platform on which he rode was
entirely open.

1979 Ford Transit

Pope John Paul II was downgraded from a Benz to a Ford for the first-ever papal visit to Ireland — the custom Transit-based truck was all the host country could muster. It was gloriously decorated, though, apparently: the tall, well-windowed cabin out back was apparently trimmed in a $1,000-a-yard silk-and-teflon carpet.

1980 Mercedes-Benz 230 G

1980 marked the introduction of the modern popemobile, as well as the popular use of the term “popemobile.” This modified Benz SUV kicked off the Pope-in-an-elevated-glass-case motif popular through to today.

1981 Peugeot 504

During his visit to France, His Holiness was provided a custom-built Peugeot. Huh.

1982 Seat Marbella

The smallest-ever papamóvil title goes to this ’82 Seat, built for the Pope’s visit to Spain. Why so small? Bigger vehicles simply wouldn’t fit through the entrance to the soccer stadium in which John Paul II was supposed to conduct mass.

1982 Range Rover

The 1981 assassination attempt on John Paul II inspired Range Rover to fit their custom-built popemobile with bulletproof glass all around His Holiness. He used the white Range on his U.K. visit that year.

1982 Leyland

This 24-ton Leyland was the largest popemobile ever used, commissioned for the Scotland leg of the Pope’s ’82 U.K. visit. The truck, which featured a small glass room on its back, was auctioned off in 2006 for just $70,000, Jalopnik reports.

1984 GMC Sierra

Thibault Fire Engines Company in Pierreville, Quebec was tapped to build the converted GMC Sierra that PJII used on his Canadian tour in ’84. The truck was brought out of retirement and used for the Pope’s 1998 visit to Cuba, too, but now sits under a tarp in the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa (there’s a leak in the museum’s roof right over it — nice work, Ottawa).

1999 bus

Everyone remembers the glass-sided bus Pope John Paul II used for his ’99 trip to Mexico, in part because it became a sort of mini-shrine to which Mexican Catholics made pilgrimage at the time of his death in 2005. Less well-remembered is the modified Cadillac GM built him for the same trip.

2002 Mercedes-Benz ML430

This ’02 Benz is for many the iconic popemobile, and the one John Paul II was riding around in when he told the press to stop using the term “popemobile.” (He considered it degrading.) Without a substitute term to replace it, people just kept on using ‘popemobile.’ And, uh, still do.

2007 Mercedes-Benz G500

This trick ’07 truck, a favourite of Pope Benedict XVI, could convert between open-air and bulletproof versions thanks to a removable glass top. The G500 – it replaced a Fiat, believe it or not – is still commonly used for roaming around the Vatican.

2013 Mercedes-Benz M-Class

Benz decided to gift Pope Francis a new M-Class-based popemobile to celebrate the beginning of his papacy in 2013; Daimler CEO Dr. Dieter Zetsche even delivered the keys personally.

2008 Ford Focus

While Francis was happy to accept the new M-Class into the Vatican garage, his preferred rides are much more humble. He favours an older open-topped Fiat, in fact, along with this 2008 Ford Focus.

1984 Renault 4L

After being made Pope, one of the newest rides Francis added to the Vatican fleet was, uh, old: an ’84 Renault gifted to him by an Italian priest. The little stickshift French car apparently reminded him of his wheels back in Argentina, and he’s even taken to driving this mini-popemobile around himself.

2016 Hyundai SUV

The official popemobile has been an enclosed Mercedes-Benz for the longest time, but the super-humble Pope Francis decided to continue his break from tradition June 2015 with this open-top Hyundai. It’s the newest official popemobile to wear the SCV-1 (for status civitatis Vaticanae —“state of Vatican City” in Latin) licence plate.

2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

Just about a month after showing off his open-top Hyundai SUV popemobile, Francis appeared touring South America in this even airier Jeep Wrangler. Apparently this pontiff doesn’t know the meaning of the words “brand loyalty.”